Gary Lineker raised Alexander Isak alarm bells to Liverpool as familiar problem arises

Liverpool overlooked Alexander Isak’s injury record before forking out £125m to secure his signature

Gary Lineker warned Liverpool about Alexander Isak’s injury record before they smashed the British transfer record. The 26-year-old striker, whom the Reds signed from Newcastle United for £125m in the summer, suffered a groin injury during Wednesday night’s 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast last year, Lineker highlighted Isak’s injury record as potential deterrent for interested clubs. The former Match of the Day presenter said: “17 goals in 24 Premier League appearances. I mean the only question mark against him is that he has missed a few games.”

Despite Lineker’s fears, Liverpool hastily wrapped up a deal – and they appear to have paid the price. Isak was forced to come off at half-time against the Bundesliga outfit, dropping the curtain on another unproductive display for Arne Slot’s side.

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The Sweden international has failed to impress since pulling on the Liverpool jersey, scoring just once in eight appearances. His only goal for the Merseyside outfit came against Southampton in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Unfortunately for Isak, he may have to wait ‘a few weeks’ before he gets another opportunity to open his Liverpool account in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Speaking to reporters after ending the Reds’ four-game loss streak, Slot provided an update in the Swede.

The Dutchman said: “Alex had to go off at half-time and that’s not something you ask for. He felt his groin, so let’s hope it’s not too bad. I’m hoping that this doesn’t have to be that bad because if he would be out now for a few weeks, that would throw him back or put him back.

“I don’t know how to say it, but it’s the difficult balance we were having with him. When he came, he hardly had trained. You try to prepare players for once-a-week football, but if you are Liverpool and you play every three days, or normally three times in eight days, then you try to prepare them for that program, which is not always so easy if you don’t have preseason.

“So that’s what we tried to do. He missed out on pre-season and didn’t train for a long time with the team.”

Slot added that Liverpool had struggled to rebuild Isak’s fitness after he had gone on strike at Newcastle in pre-season. The under-pressure Reds boss said: “He came in the first of September.

“We had to bring him to us once a week and now we’ve tried to bring him to us twice a week, which he did for the national team [Sweden]. He was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team.

“He was perfectly fit before the [Manchester] United game, so we were expecting him to be ready to play again today, which he did, but he felt his groin a little bit. I think we did exactly what was needed.

“We were really careful with him. The Swedish national team as well. They played him twice last time, which he could do, so I’m not criticising at all the Swedish national team, because we actually told them that he’s ready to play twice.

“So it’s a thin balance if you missed out on pre-season. Some march through it and some unfortunately get injured again.”

According to ESPN in the summer, Arsenal were deterred by Isak’s injury record. The report claimed that the Gunners believed the risk was too great, so they turned their attention to Viktor Gyokeres.

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